" In light of Ignatius' 'Two Standards' and 'The Mystries Done From The Garden To The House Of Annas', at any moment we can be Judas or Peter, a Christian life can be a fine line."

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

"The Old Mass Is Not To Be Touched, The Jesuit Pope Wrong-foots Everyone"

Pope Francis in a traditional fiddleback

The Bishops of the region of Tavoliere met recently with Pope Francis on an ad limina visit. On their return Il Foglio, in the article: La messa antica non si tocca, il Papa gesuita spiazza ancora tutti("The old mass is not to be touched, the Jesuit Pope wrong-foots everyone")
home, one has given a fascinating glimpse of the
attitude of Pope Francis to those who are seeking to use the
opportunity of his papacy to attack the traditional Mass. This is
reported in the Italian paper

Here is my translation of the relevant part of the article which tells
of other bishops raising concerns with the Holy Father and goes on to
speak of the intervention concerning the old Mass:

Then it was the turn of the bishop of Conversano and Monopoli, Domenico Padovano, who recounted to the clergy of his diocese how the priority of
the bishops of the region of Tavoliere had been that of explaining to
the Pope that the mass in the old rite was creating great divisions
within the Church. The underlying message: Summorum Pontificum should be cancelled, or at least strongly limited. But Francis said no.

Mgr Padovano explained that Francis replied to them saying that they
should be vigilant over the extremism of certain traditionalist groups
but also suggesting that they should treasure tradition and create the
necessary conditions so that tradition might be able to live alongside
innovation.

This is not really a surprise (did anyone expect that Pope Francis would somehow "repeal" Summorum Pontificum?) but it is a welcome confirmation of what we would all expect.

About Me

I am not a Jesuit, nor am I a cleric. I spent about 5 years under the spiritual direction of a Jesuit, 3 of those years in a weekly directed retreat in everyday life. The profound impact that the Society and the Excercises had upon my life, resulted in me, trying to deal with that impact in some way by sharing my view of Jesus Christ with others. My intention is to pull together Jesuitical and Catholic subjects that interest me. I was born on the feast day of St. Paul Miki, S.J.. I am the father of three small children and an infant, I am married to a great wife.